Novel gas chromatographic microsystem with very large sensor arrays for advanced odour discrimination

Che Harun, Fauzan, King, Philip, Covington, James and Gardner, Julian (2007) Novel gas chromatographic microsystem with very large sensor arrays for advanced odour discrimination. IEEE Sensors 2007, Atlanta, United States. 27 - 31 Oct 2007. pp. 1361-1363 .

Abstract

Here we report on a new technology for electronic noses (e-noses). This combines two large sensor arrays with a micro-package that behaves similarly to a gas chromatograph column, inspired by the nature of the human olfactory mucosa. Our system comprises two silicon based chemo resistive arrays of 300 sensors with a micro-fluidic package, formed by stereo-lithography, fitted between them. In this configuration, the first sensor array provides a "spatial" response to an odour, similar to a traditional e-nose. Then, as the odour pulse travels along the column, chemical components are selectively delayed, thus the second array gives temporal information. Experiments show a time delay of up to 38 s between ethanol and toluene pulses traveling down the column. We believe that this combination of an initial sensor array, producing spatial data with a second array creating spatio-temporal data significantly enhances the ability of an e-nose to discriminate between complex odours.

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